Luggage woes continued yesterday for participants and foreign journalists here for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting and at least two other Liat passengers.
Yesterday many journalists, some from as far away as India and Uganda, who had to attend workshops were forced to recycle clothing and Stabroek News (SN) was told that some of the inconvenienced passengers intend to take legal action against Liat.
However, there was quiet and calm at the airline’s Main Street office when this newspaper visited though it was unable to solicit an official comment from the management. On Friday journalists from Antigua and Barbuda, Uganda and the United Kingdom, told SN that they arrived here on Thursday minus their luggage and up to late Friday afternoon the airline had promised that the luggage would have arrived. This newspaper understands that most of the luggage was expected today and that yesterday should have seen the last of the baggage problem.
A source at the Foreign Affairs committee, which had been working with the airline to ensure that the luggage belonging to persons here for the meeting would be delivered to them, told SN that many of the affected persons were upset and were getting impatient. The meeting starts tomorrow.
This newspaper has also learnt that Caribbean Airlines had undertaken to assist Liat with bringing in some of the luggage and it was expected that all the luggage would have arrived by last evening.
Additionally, a passenger who along with her husband, arrived on Thursday on a Liat flight saw the first article SN published on the issue and telephoned to share her concerns. London-based Guyanese Eleanor Nisbett and her husband are here on vacation after many years and they too are without their luggage. Nisbett said she hopes the same urgency being placed on locating the delegates’ luggage will be placed on ensuring that ordinary persons receive theirs as well. The woman said the airline’s Timehri staff has been giving her regular updates on the situation but neither she nor her husband has been told exactly when to expect their baggage. Over the past weeks a number of passengers have complained about Liat’s service and in particular about missing luggage.
